We are flooded in and the chooks, who hate wet weather, are very miserable. But we are safe, have plenty of food and firewood and, with the new power system, even plenty of electricity. So I’ve had a lovely day playing in the kitchen rather than the garden, and we had our neighbours (who are also flooded in, same side of the creek to us) over for a long late Sunday lunch.
I spent a couple of hours making corn vadai and azuki vadai and eggplant and beetroot pakora and zucchini muthia, and I really needn’t have bothered cos there were two clear favourites on the platter, and they were the quickest and easiest ones – the muthia and the pakoras.
This is the third of my “Food to Share” series, a South Indian platter inspired by the ginger and turmeric and chilies going nuts in the midsummer garden. This one has:
- Corn Vadai – little patties made with corn, lentils and spices
- Azuki Vadai – made with ground soaked brown snake bean seeds and spices
- Eggpant pakora – just thin eggplant slices dipped in pakora batter and fried
- Beetroot pakora – grated beet mixed with pakora batter and fried
- Zucchini muthia – steamed zucchini and besan (bean flour) patties
- Coriander mint dipping sauce
- Hot Mango and Tomato Chutney
- Green Mango Pickles in Oil
- Fresh cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumber
All made from things that are so in season they are in glut in my garden.
Zucchini Muthia Recipe:
Grate two overfull cups of zucchini and put in a colander over the sink. Let it drain for a few minutes, pressing and squeezing to get excess liquid out.
In a bowl, mix
- 2 cups of drained grated zucchini
- ½ cup besan (bean flour)
- 2 dessertspoons plain wholemeal flour
- 1 scant teaspoon of cumin seed
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh turmeric (or substitute ½ teaspoon dried)
- 2 medium to mild chilis, finely chopped (more or less depending on how hot you like it)
- a handful of herbs, finely chopped. Coriander, fennel, or Thai basil all work in different ways.
- pinch salt
- juice of half a lemon
- 2 dessertspoons oil
Use your hands to mix, squeezing the mixture together.
Use wet hands to shape into 14 little patties. They should be a bit sticky but able to be made into patties. If they are too sticky, add some more besan.
Steam the patties for around 20 minutes, till they a skewer comes out clean. You can make them ahead up to this point, and they will keep in the fridge for several days.
To finish:
In a little oil in a frypan, pop ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds. Add a little finely diced chili, if you like spiciness (or not) and a couple of dessertspoons of sesame seeds.
Add the steamed muthia and fry for a few minutes till they start to colour. The sesame seeds will stick to them.
Serve hot with chutney or pickles or dipping sauce.
Its not often that I say this to a complete stranger but I LOVE YOU! I keep opening my fridge and being guilted out with the stash of exponentially increasing zucchini that are mounting up…it’s “that time of the year” when your friends who are totally delighted with your garden produce suddenly stop answering their doorbells and you can see the curtains twitching…”zucchini overload!”…I found a recipe for making a lemon curd out of the enormous ones but the little ones are too tender and delicious and there is only so much zucchini that 2 people can eat! Why oh WHY did I plant 6 zucchini plants? Cheers for a fantastic recipe and one that is going to decrease my guilt (for at least a day 🙂 )
There is a Marge Piercy poem called “Attack of the Squash People” that I think perfectly sums up zucchini. If you click “zucchini” in the tag list in the right hand menu, you’ll find a good range of my zucchini overload strategies. But 6 zucchini plants. You are brave.
Ah yes! It’s the season of the zucchini isn’t it… we have such a glut that even our wild wallabies won’t go near them, and my partner is grating the escapees to feed to his worms! I can so identify with narf7’s observation about friends desperately trying to think of excuses as to why they simply cannot take home ten zucchinis.
Thanks for a great recipe that will fulfill our zucchini obligations (for at least a day as narf7 says) … and thanks for the link to the Marge Peircy poem. Jealous of the rain however… maybe it will head further south (finger’s crossed).
Hi Heather, don’t be jealous. I am lucky, but there’s lots not so lucky at the moment. The weather, urged on by the climate, is not being kind!
So thats what I can do with the ridiculously large zucchini that grew while I was on holiday – really pleased with that recipe. You just can’t beat something made with chickpea flour in my view.
What can I say but yum, yum. I love it, keep up your great work. Marian
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